The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Ornithogalum plant, botanically known as Ornithogalum thyrsoides, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Chesapeake Snowflakexe2x80x99.
The new Ornithogalum is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventors in Beltsville, Md. The objective of the breeding program was to create new freely-flowering Ornithogalums with desirable flower colors and strong short scapes.
The new Ornithogalum originated from a cross made by the Inventors of the Ornithogalum thyrsoides cultivar Bok Bay, not patented, as the female or seed parent with an unidentified selection of Ornithogalum thyrsoides, not patented, as the male or pollen parent. The cultivar Chesapeake Snowflake was discovered and selected by the Inventors as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Beltsville, Md. in 1994.
Asexual reproduction of the new Ornithogalum by tissue culture in a controlled environment in a laboratory in Beltsville, Md., has shown that the unique features of this new Ornithogalum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar xe2x80x98Chesapeake Snowflakexe2x80x99 has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength, light intensity, and water or nutritional status without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Chesapeake Snowflakexe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinquish xe2x80x98Chesapeake Snowflakexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Ornithogalum:
1. Strong, upright and short scapes.
2. Dense corymbose racemes with numerous white-colored flowers.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventors in Beltsville, Md., plants of the new Ornithogalum differ from plants of the female parent, the cultivar Bok Bay, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Ornithogalum flower about five weeks earlier than plants of the cultivar Bok Bay.
2. Plants of the new Ornithogalum have shorter inflorescences and shorter scapes than plants of the cultivar Bok Bay.
3. Plants of the new Ornithogalum have white-colored flowers whereas plants of the cultivar Bok Bay have cream-colored flowers.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventors in Beltsville, Md., plants of the new Ornithogalum differ from plants of male parent, the unidentified selection of Ornithogalum thyrsoides, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Ornithogalum are more freely flowering than plants of the unidentified selection of Ornithogalum thyrsoides. 
2. Plants of the new Ornithogalum have stronger scapes than plants of the unidentified selection of Ornithogalum thyrsoides. 
3. Plants of the new Ornithogalum have a denser (less open) flower display than plants of the unidentified selection of Ornithogalum thyrsoides.